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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: speculation

speculation stories: 15 news summaries

 New Speculator Fave: AIG Stock 

Day-traders flock to shares on the upswing

Sep 23, 09 11:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - AIG’s stock has become the hottest commodity on Wall Street in recent weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s not that anyone believes the insurer is on the verge of paying back the $80 billion it owes Uncle Sam. Rather, the stock has become the go-to casino... More »

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stock market • AIG • speculation • traders

(Newser) - Major banks in California, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo, will stop honoring the state's IOUs after today, reports the Los Angeles Times. While some credit unions may cash the promissory notes, taxpayers and vendors who need cash may be tempted to sell them on the cheap to third-party... More »

MORE ABOUT:
California • SEC • speculation • budget shortfall • speculators • IOU

 Feds Consider Limits on 
 Oil, Energy Speculation 

Commodity Commission to hold hearings on 'purely financial' energy futures trading

Jul 7, 09 2:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Federal regulators may impose new limits on the amount of energy-futures contracts that speculators can buy, the New York Times reports, an attempt to curb severe price fluctuations in commodities like oil and natural gas. Oil prices swung from $145 per barrel last summer to $33 in December, movement some... More »

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investors • natural gas • Commodity Futures Trading Commission • commodities • commodities exchange • speculation • oil futures • oil prices • commodity prices • Gary Gensler

OPINION

Flyover 'Red Flags' Get
News Orgs Poking Around


Apr 29, 09 1:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - At least one news organization may file a Freedom of Information Act request, demanding the manifest for Monday’s Air Force One flight over New York, according to the American Spectator’s anonymous “Prowler”—who relays suspicions that civilians or a high-level administration official was on board. “... More »

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New York City • Freedom of Information Act • rumor • Boeing 747 • speculation • Obama administration • Air Force One • President Obama • Louis Caldera • campaign donors

glossies

 'Viking Bankers' 
 Pillaged Iceland 

How Iceland went from fishing to finance to ruin

Mar 5, 09 2:48 AM CST
(Newser) - The bankers who ruined Iceland’s economy possessed the mentality of its fishermen—daring, aggressive, and devoted to the “lucky catch," Michael Lewis writes in Vanity Fair. It's no surprise—after all, they were the sons of fishermen whose massive profits helped modernize Iceland in the 1970s.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
insurance • financial markets • fishing • Iceland • foreign currency • speculation • financial meltdown

 Tea Bubble Bursts, 
 Leaving Chinese Broke 

Boom and bust results in a bitter fate for tea-growing heartland

Jan 17, 09 10:51 AM CST
(Newser) - Thousands of people in China's Yunnan province were left in the cold when the country's red-hot tea market collapsed last year, the New York Times reports. The newly affluent nation went wild for the Pu'er region's distinctive fermented tea—said to reduce cholesterol and cure hangovers—during its decade-long boom.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • tea • Chinese economy • market bubble • speculation • recession depression

ANALYSIS

 As Food Prices Rise,
 Lobster Treads Water

In Maine at least, local economies dodge the perils of globalization

Aug 20, 08 12:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - As global demand drives food prices to new highs, there’s one high-end food item whose price is in decline, Daniel Gross points out in Slate: lobster. In Portland, Maine, a pound of lobster costs slightly more than a gallon of gasoline, a ratio that historically was more like 4-to-1.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
food prices • speculation • supply and demand • food industry • lobster • global food crisis

Opinion

Speculators Didn't Do It

Traders take blame
for high oil prices,
but global demand
is the real culprit

Jul 5, 08 7:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - Politicians are blaming high oil prices on an old scapegoat: speculators, writes Dean Barnett in the Weekly Standard. But if speculators were hoarding oil, it would be stockpiled, and inventories would soar. Instead, inventories remain constant. This is obvious "to anyone who took an introductory economics class," Barnett... More »

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oil price • New York Mercantile Exchange • commodities • speculation • speculators

As Prices Soar, Congress Aims at Speculators

Out-of-control traders may be driving up oil, food costs, pols say

Jun 13, 08 8:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Congress is blaming rampant commodity speculation for rocketing gas and food prices, and berating regulators for letting it happen, the New York Times reports. Unless watchdog groups like the Commodities Futures Trading Commision crack down, Carl Levin says, "we don’t have a cop on the beat.." Joe... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Congress • Carl Levin • food prices • oil price • Commodity Futures Trading Commission • New York Mercantile Exchange • commodities • commodities exchange • speculation • Joseph Lieberman • speculators

OPINION

 Is There a Solar Bubble?

Parallels with now-depressed ethanol stocks sure to scare investors

May 22, 08 4:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - Stocks in solar-energy outfits are enjoying a sustained rally, but investors should remember the lesson of ethanol, Mark Gongloff writes in the Wall Street Journal. Once-loved ethanol stocks are now widely scorned—mainly because the energy source will never be viable without government subsidies. Still, despite solar’s advantages, shares... More »

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ethanol • alternative energy • solar energy • solar power • solar cells • stock price • speculation

Congress Turns on Speculators in Oil Bubble

Legislators push regulation in effort to slow gushing prices

May 15, 08 7:22 PM CDT
(Newser) - It’s not OPEC pulling oil prices to ever greater-heights—it’s speculators. That’s the theory behind the Consumer-First Energy Act, a bill sponsored by Senate Democrats aimed at clamping down on runaway oil futures trading. As stocks fall, investors are fleeing to commodities, especially oil. But even the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • futures market • oil price • commodities • commodities exchange • speculation

 OPEC May Boost
 Oil Output to
 Ease Prices 

Cartel may meet early and backpedal on current policy

May 9, 08 7:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - As crude hit $125 a barrel today, one OPEC member said the cartel may boost oil production to relieve prices, the New York Times reports. The move would conflict with OPEC's public stand that speculators, not oil supplies, have been keeping prices high. “We would consider among other... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Saudi Arabia • OPEC • Libya • investment • gas prices • oil price • oil production • speculation • supply and demand

Speculation Not Driving Boom in Commodities

Surveyed economists name supply, demand as bigger factors

May 8, 08 4:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - A majority of economists think the upswing in food and energy prices is due to fundamental issues of supply and demand—and not driven by speculation, a Wall Street Journal survey finds; 51% pegged demand from China and India as the chief cause of the oil boom. More »

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China • India • investors • economist • food prices • oil price • oil production • speculation

 Rice Is the New Oil 

Rising food prices threaten a more serious global crisis

Apr 27, 08 3:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - Even as the burgeoning price of oil slaps consumers at the pump, a darker global market crisis looms as rising commodities prices compound the pressures of poverty worldwide. The UN has said that spiking food prices have started "a silent tsunami threatening to plunge more than 100 million people... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • food • United Nations • India • hunger • poverty • food prices • speculation • rice prices • hunger riots

Oil Insanity Pinned to Speculators

Observers call current market 'hysteria' — and 'bubble'

Feb 28, 08 5:54 PM CST
(Newser) - Crude-oil prices have doubled in recent months, a development not linked to fundamental supply and demand—but rather, observers tell Der Spiegel, to rampant speculation among investors looking for a stable buck. The prospect of recession would typically drive prices down, but analysts say a decade-old oil investment rush by... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • Persian Gulf • OPEC • ExxonMobil • Morgan Stanley • Deutsche Bank • recession • crude oil • New York Mercantile Exchange • speculation • pension funds • Mercuria • Cushing, Okla. • Oppenheimer & Co.

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